Brew Guides

French Press

Items needed:

Coffee

French press

Grinder

Kettle

Scale

Timer

Wooden spoon

Step 1. Bring enough water to fill the French press to a boil. For a 3 cup press, you’ll need about 600ml.

Step 2. While the water is heating, grind your coffee. French press coffee calls for a coarse, even grind. We recommend starting with a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio. If you’re using 600ml of water, you’ll want 60 grams of coffee

Step 3. To start, gently pour twice the amount of water than you have coffee onto your grounds. For example, if you have 60 grams of coffee, you’ll want to start with 120ml of water.

Step 4. Give the grounds a gentle stir with a wooden spoon (do not use a metal one!). Allow the coffee to bloom for 30 seconds.

Step 5. Add the rest of your water and position the lid gently on top of the grounds. Don’t plunge just yet. Let the coffee steep for four minutes. Four. Don’t guess!

Step 6. Gently remove your French press from the scale and place it on your counter. Press the filter down. If it’s hard to press, that means your grind is too fine; if the plunger “thunks” immediately down to the bottom, it means your grind is too coarse. The sweet spot, pressure-wise, is 15–20 pounds. Not sure what this feels like? Try it out on your bathroom scale.

When you’ve finished pressing, serve the coffee immediately. Don’t let it sit, as this will cause it to continue brewing and over-extract.

V60 Pourover

Items needed:

Hario V60 02

Hario Filters

Pour Over Kettle

Coffee Grinder

Coffee Scale

Clean Water

Filter Coffee Beans

Timer

For this recipe, we will use the following:

18g Coffee Beans (medium-fine grind)

240ml Water (also happens to be 240g)

Step 1. Bring a kettle of water to 95° Celsius, fold the stitching of the Hario V60 filter over, set the filter into the cone, and pour some water over the filter. This preheats your brewing vessel and decanter (or mug) and washes any residual papery taste from the paper filter. Make sure you throw out that rinse water before you move on – you don’t want to drink that.

Step 2. Grind your coffee beans at a medium-fine setting. Your finished grounds should resemble table salt – not powdery, but not very distinct. Add the grounds to your V60 and give the brewer a little shake so that the coffee bed is flat.

Step 3. Tare your scale and start a timer. It’s time to brew.

Step 4. With your water still just off the boil, begin the bloom phase by pouring about 50g of water onto the coffee grounds. Start on the outer edges and pour in a circle towards the middle. This stage of brewing opens the coffee grounds up so that they can release carbon dioxide. Without the gas in the way, the grounds can now take in water for a balanced extraction.

Step 5. After 30 seconds have passed, begin pouring water over the coffee again with a slow, steady stream. Pour in small circles, moving in a larger circle around the entire coffee bed. Make sure you saturate all of the coffee grounds evenly.

Step 6. After a minute of pouring or so, you will reach your target of 240g of water. Stop pouring. From here, it’s up to gravity to finish the brewing.

Step 7. Once the brewed coffee has drained (probably after another 30 to 60 seconds), remove the V60 from your decanter, throw away the filter and grounds, and enjoy your well-earned cup of delicious coffee

Cold Brew for 1L pot

Items needed:

Coffee

Hario cold brew pot 1L

Grinder

Scale

Filtered water

Spoon

Before starting: use coarse or ground coffee in your Hario Cold Brew system (same as the French press).

Step 1. Fill your Hario glass pot to the 800 ml line with quality cool water. Remember: coffee is 99% water. Using icky-tasting water will result in icky-tasting coffee.

Step 2. Fill the filter assembly with ground coffee just until the filter mesh is totally covered (about 80gms).

Step 3. Place the filter assembly into the glass pot.

Step 4. Pour additional water through the grounds until the glass pot is completely full and grounds are wet. give the grounds a stir with a plastic straw or chopstick.

Step 5. Place the pot cover onto the pot. It will click into place.

Step 6. Let the pot rest! You can keep it on your kitchen counter for up to 12 hours(noty on hot nights). If you’d like a stronger steep, place the pot in the fridge and allow to chill for up to 24 hours.

Step 7. Remove the filter and enjoy your coffee concentrate!

Hints and tips for grinding, storage, shelf life, use for old coffee grind

Coffee is a beautiful thing and our coffee is roasted as fresh as possible to ensure that you enjoy its full depth of flavour. Most coffee is best consumed within 2- 3 weeks from the roast date and should be stored correctly so that it retains its essence for as long as possible.

Here are a few tips to get the most out of your beans:

If you can, buy a hand or small electric grinder. Buy your beans whole and grind right before use.

Keep your beans out of direct sunlight and try not to store them in a clear container.

Make sure they stay in an airtight container or your Sparks Coffee Roasters re-sealable packaging (remember you receive $1 off your bean purchase if you bring back this bag or your own container).